community colleges

[BigBlue]

with rejection letters piling up, i am considering applying to CC positions I already have a PhD, am adjuncting right now.

general opinion/what u have heard-would a year teaching at a cc hurt my chances if i am back on the TT job market next year?

would it be better to stay an adjunct & just hope i don't get sick? (no insurance)

Thanks!

[cc]

Here are some brief thoughts:
1) I have heard from several sources that once you're "tracked" in a community college career it's hard to move into a 4-year school career.
2) However, you should also consider the job-tracking-related dangers of remaining in an adjunct position. The longer you are teaching in an adjunct position the more likely you are to be tracked into an adjunct career.
3) A community college position is not separate from a TT position - there are TT positions at the community college level.
4) Community college jobs tend to be devalued in the academic world, but unless you're strongly attached to having research be a part of your tenure/promotion decisions they can be very rewarding - and a TT community college position is certainly a much better option than being an adjunct for the rest of your life.

[TTCC]

Community colleges aren't just places that people can set their sites if other academic institutions don't work out. Community college search committees want people that understand the mission and scope of a community college. Not everyone that is a good teacher at a liberal arts school can understand what is expected in the community college classroom. As I understand it, people who apply to community colleges as their back up plan are often disappointed that they aren't considered, but they shouldn't be.

Search committees are looking for the best fit and even though you are a fabulous teacher, if you can't communicate that you understand their unique mission and their necessary role within higher education, then I don't see you having a very good shot at the job.

[cc job seeker]

Nicely put, TTCC.

[Id]

"1) I have heard from several sources that once you're "tracked" in a community college career it's hard to move into a 4-year school career."

I interviewed for a tenure track cc gig recently and they flat out told me this, which to be honest I hadn't thought of before that. In subsequently asking around, some profs agreed while others still thought you could "publish your way" into a four-year institution if you so chose.

[yanick]

the whole "publish your way into the job you want" is the biggest bunch of baloney professors like to spread around.

This for a few reasons:
- If you don't have enough in the pipeline once you leave grad school, the difficulty of getting enough while teaching a 4/4 on a community college are significantly greater.
- The longer you are out of grad school, the harder it is to land a job. Fairly or unfairly, people are more interested in hiring the brand new phd full of potential than the guy who has been out for 4 or 5 years. This is doubly so for assistant professor positions, where people will, fairly or unfairly, ask themselves why you didn't get a tt job elsewhere before and why would someone be changing places after years at a cc.
- As much as we hate to admit it, prestige and networks matter a great deal. Taking a job at a CC will decrease your prestige and not help with networks outside the CC world.
- Finally, while publications always matter, the longer you've been out the more the type of publication matters. With recent grads, people won't mind if you haven't had a big 3 publication. But once you've been out for a number of years, publications in small section journals are not that impressive anymore. If you can publish on the big 3 while teaching a 4/4, you might be able to move. But that is a pretty big "if."



And that is without mentioning the difficulties of getting a job at a CC in the first place. People at CCs are very good at sniffing out the people who think that teaching there is temporary step down in their careers.

[bittersweet]

My advisors at a top 15 school keep reiterating to not, not, not take a CC position or a "no-name" school position in order to avoid being tracked into that route. They have been advising us to stay another year, graduate and lecture, or try to create a postdoc somewhere in the university... they don't unfortunately have much advice to offer if indeed that is all you've got on the table (or if this is something you want)...

[daffodil1003]

Feb 1, 2010 15:51:41 GMT -5 @BigBlue said:

with rejection letters piling up, i am considering applying to CC positions I already have a PhD, am adjuncting right now.

general opinion/what u have heard-would a year teaching at a cc hurt my chances if i am back on the TT job market next year?

would it be better to stay an adjunct & just hope i don't get sick? (no insurance)

Thanks!

I don't understand question